Windows Vista Windows Vista Only Boots in Safe Mode

I'm trying to resurrect a Vista Home Premium 32bit Machine. A friend gave it to me in August 2013 and I did a cursory look and it seemed to be operating OK - running AVG 2012 Free. I updated everything but didn't do any significant cleaning.

I booted it up several days ago and I had a lot of updates to run and then I started some cleanup - Malwarebytes, ESET On Line. I noticed a security warning that the AVG was non operable - had a message that it had been stopped. I tried turning it on but nothing caused a response. I rebooted but this time the boot stalled at the status screen - bar just kept going in a closed loop. I uninstalled AVG and installed Microsoft Security Essentials with exactly the same results. Uninstalled MSE and installed AVG 2014 - no change. Went back to MSE with no change.

On most of the reboots, I was able to boot normally by using the "Last Known Good Configuration ". I ran CkDsk and System File Checker and all seemed well there. Since then, the reboots have gotten worse and now I can only boot into Safe mode. I do have a reinstallation disk that I can use but I would prefer to repair the machine. I did try the repair option on the disk but nothing changed. In the midst of all this, I did a couple of System Restores - one back to last week when I first fired the machine up and another back to August 2013 - no change.

I looked at a couple of threads on this Board that were similar and tried most of the fixes they recommended with no luck. Any thoughts?

 

Hi Robert, This link may be worth reading through to see if it helps. Some used msconfig to uncheck Start in Safe Mode and it worked for them.
Vista only Starts in Safe Mode:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...afe-mode/59ecb0cd-184e-41d8-9306-c7490f1547ea
Cheers Neil.

 

Neil,

Thanks for the link. I tried the "uncheck" of Safe Mode box but it was already unchecked. I looked through the link and tried some of the fixes mentioned but none gave any help.

It appears as though I am on the way to a reinstall/fresh insatll but I think the Disk I have won't work - Reinstallation DVD Windows Vista Home Premium 32 BIT. I did use this disk to boot yesterday and one of the options was Repair - which ran but didn't fix anything. The other option was "Install" which came with a warning about losing all data, programs, etc.

The link refers to using an Install disk rather than a Reinstallation. It also talks to making a slipstreamed Vista SP1 for this purpose but it appears to me that I must make the slipstreamed CD using a 32BIT Vista system. I assume that would preclude me from using my main Windows 7 desktop to make the slipstreamed disk.

Any thoughts on that?

 

Hi Robert, I found this Tutorial on Automatically Repair Vista:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/repair-windows-with-windows-startup-repair/
I have a funny feeling that you must have a FULL Vista OS - not an UPGRADE version when doing a REPAIR. Neil.

 

Neil,

I got tired of endlessly rebooting this monster. So I put the Reinstallation disk in and selected the Install option instead of the Repair option. It finished installing and all looks OK - except I lost Microsoft Office.

I only have wifi available for internet and I couldn't install my wifi adapter without SP1. So I downloaded SP1 to a flash drive and it is installing right now - supposed to take over an hour - but hopefully I will have internet when I get that part done.

Will let you know how it goes.

 

An update.

Got SP1 installed OK and was able to connect to the internet. However, when I opened IE7, it told me I needed IE8 and wouldn't let me connect to the internet. I finally used the Windows Update and it downloaded and installed about 100 updates. After restart, the next update it found was SP2 which included IE9. Thought I was through with updates but just checked and had another 97 that just finished. I guess I should have gotten one of Arie's slipstream disks but I have a had time understanding how all that works.

So far I haven't had to download any drivers to make things work - I guess that will come as I continue to tweak this thing. Thanks for your input. I'll mark this one Resolved for now.